Four Viessmann World Cup deciders ahead 

Königssee (RWH) For the first time in the history of the Viessmann World Cup, all four events will be decided at the season finale. The overall winner of the women’s, men’s, doubles and team relay luge will be crowned at the concluding event of the season on the artificial ice track in Königssee. The current leaders are Tatyana Ivanova, Roman Repilov (both RUS) and Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken, while the Italian squad leads the Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW.

Tatyana Ivanova has a 27-point lead over her nearest rival Julia Taubitz (GER), who has only a slim chance of emerging as the overall winner. If two-time World Championship silver medallist Taubitz takes victory in Königssee, the 29-year-old Russian would have to finish second in order to finally put an end to the German women’s winning streak, which stretches back 21 years.

World Champion Roman Repilov, the overall winner in the 2016/2017 season, did not compete in Winterberg but is still wearing the leader’s yellow jersey. However, he has only a one-point lead over European Champion Dominik Fischnaller of Italy, with Russia’s Semen Pavlichenko (641) and Johannes Ludwig (590) from Germany in third and fourth, respectively.

World Champions Toni Eggert/Sascha Benecken of Germany hold a slender lead in the overall doubles classification on 772 points ahead of double Olympic Champions Tobias Wendl/Tobias Arlt (GER) with 762 points. Both duos did not compete in Winterberg due to safety concerns, and are now set to battle for overall victory in Königssee. The Latvian pairing of Andris Sics/Juris Sics are third on 650 points. Russia’s Sprint World Champions and European Champions Aleksandr Denisev/Vladislav Antonov are fourth with 600 points.

The Viessmann Team Relay World Cup presented by BMW is a thrilling prospect. The Italian squad, former European Champions, hold the overall lead (395) after five events. Team Russia is second (361) ahead of Latvia (320). Defending champions Germany are fourth in the standings with 315 points. Germany has won the overall team relay championship each year since its inception.